Late last year The Economist declared 2019 to be the Year of the Vegan. In the featured article, it stated that 25% of Millennials age 25 to 34 were identified as vegetarians or vegans. While this prediction gained a lot of attention in the food industry, what I find interesting is not veganism, which is still a small percentage of the total U.S. population, but the mainstreaming of plant-forward eating - flexitarians. This is people across the age spectrum increasing their ‘plant’ or fruit/vegetable/legume/grain intake. As a result, retail sales of plant-based foods in the U.S. grew 11% in the past year, totaling $4.5 billion... Click title to read more.

Another discussion topic at Petfood Forum was about updating pet food nutrition labels. My take on that is—what took so long? Apparently, the current labeling, “Guaranteed Analysis and calorie contents,” was introduced in the early 1900s. From the average consumer’s view point, Guaranteed Analysis is nearly indecipherable as a guidepost for their pet’s nutritional needs. Click title to read more...

Several of Tree Top’s Product Development Team attended the IFT19 Annual Food Expo “Feed Your Future” in June. Annie Li, Cindy Conroy and Debbie Flores all agreed, it was a “must attend show.” From their perspective, this event is a great spot to trend watch and see what’s happening in food and beverage product development. The event delivered on IFT’s intention to inspire and share the industry’s collective knowledge and to demo innovative solutions to help advance our planet’s food safety, nutrition, and sustainability.